


Tied Up Smiling

by zzegnas



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Amicable Resolution, Divorce, Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-24
Updated: 2015-12-24
Packaged: 2018-05-08 21:27:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5513921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zzegnas/pseuds/zzegnas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>“Maybe it’s what he wants,” Liam reasons, “and Harry, you know you can’t let your personal feelings get in the way of this.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“It’s not about feelings, it’s about what’s fair!” Harry protests, trying to get a hold of himself. “When I look at Zayn, I can tell he’s putting on this front, as if he has to act like the stronger of the two. But when I look at Niall, he’s so distant and I honestly feel like he’s going to burst at the seams the longer he stays quiet. I need him to speak up, Liam. I need him to take what belongs to him and I will not let him leave this place empty handed.”</em>
</p><p>—<br/>A beloved celebrity couple shocks the world by filing for divorce. The best divorce mediators, Liam and Harry, are hired to make sure the process goes as smoothly as possible.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tied Up Smiling

**Author's Note:**

> First off, sorry. Second, my bad.
> 
>  **Hi, please note that this is tagged with 'Divorce', therefore indicating an unhappy ending (however, this ends amicably). So, if that just isn't your cup of tea, please feel free to skip this.** I have several other ziall works with happy endings, all available to you via my profile.
> 
> Big thanks to [Jess](http://archiveofourown.org/users/sealpoint) for reading this over! :)
> 
> Title from '[You're All I Need](https://youtu.be/b30_2SwLa7Y)' by Motley Crue | [tumblr](http://jenkothat.tumblr.com)

**_Niall Horan and Zayn Malik File for Divorce!_ **  
_by Entertainment Staff_  
  
_Heartbreak was felt around the world as Niall Horan and Zayn Malik decided to call it quits after twelve years of marriage._  
  
_The actor and singer-songwriter couple first came to the public eye when they appeared in a Coca Cola commercial, featuring an original song written and sung by Malik himself. The commercial was featured heavily on primetime television, the exposure leading to Malik’s record deal and three-time platinum debut album, as well Horan landing his first supporting role in a major motion picture._  
  
_Rumors of the couple’s split began to surface earlier this year when Malik was photographed numerous times leaving various nightclubs and events alongside television dance competitor, Raphaela Sorensen. A representative for Malik denied their association, while Sorensen went to Twitter, stating she and the married crooner were only ‘friendly acquaintances’ and had been for 'quite some time'._

 _Hmm, suspicious much?_  
  
_Despite the amounting evidence, an anonymous source admits all was not well in the Horan-Malik camp for months, claiming, “[the couple] mutually agreed on a break to sort themselves out, but it was clear to everyone that Niall was too heartbroken to keep up the image of their perfect marriage.”_  
  
_Horan’s lawyer, Louis Tomlinson, stated his client filed for the divorce, citing irreconcilable differences._  
  
+  
  
The sun comes up and the city rises from a thirty-story building in beautiful Downtown Bonizec. Liam stands in the shade of his open window and looks down at the streets below, one hand in his pocket, the other holding a freshly brewed cup of coffee. He can hear the distant chatter in the next room from his partner, Harry, already schmoozing with the next potential client for their business.  
  
Liam and Harry had built their company from the ground up, starting out as unpaid law interns to a famed law firm before finally branching out on their own. They knew their ability to come up with alternate solutions and options for clients in the many divorce cases they’d taken, often bringing them to a close in a quick and convenient manner. Mediation is the name of their game, and they’re the best in the county, bar none.  
  
By the time Harry’s finished with his phone call, he saunters into Liam’s office, casually flopping his lanky body onto the large leather couch adjacent to Liam’s desk. It’s only a quarter past nine, and Harry’s already falling back asleep. Liam allows it, at least until the footsteps of their new hire, Calum, can be heard from the hallway. He surprises the partners with a bag of fresh bagels for breakfast, hot and steaming with large containers of cream cheese to satisfy until the next meal.  
  
Calum gives the partners a rundown of their itinerary, starting from the cases of Magdalena-Rafa all the way to the media frenzy known as Horan-Malik. Since the breaking news of their divorce, the office has been flooded with phone calls from reporters all week, demanding every detail of the couple’s split. And bless Calum’s heart, Liam thinks, for dodging every single reporter that tries to break him for information. He and Harry will have to discuss a raise for the promising attorney once the attention has died down.  
  
An hour before the Horan-Malik party are due for their last session, Liam notices Harry seems distant and lost in his own thoughts. He would normally voice them for the two to discuss, and it takes one of Calum’s reheated bagels and an orange juice to get Harry to open up.  
  
“Horan and Malik. This case…” Harry pauses, attempting to find his words, “it’s one of the easy ones, you know? The clients know what they want and it’s not this giant debacle that goes on forever.”  
  
“Okay, so what’s different about this one?”  
  
“The plaintiff. Did you notice how Niall hasn’t really said anything since we started this thing? Other than one-worded comments and an occasional grunt, he just lets his husband—sorry, _soon to be ex-husband_ —do all of the talking.”  
  
“Maybe it’s what he wants,” Liam reasons, “and Harry, you know you can’t let your personal feelings get in the way of this.”  
  
“It’s not about feelings, it’s about what’s fair!” Harry protests, trying to get a hold of himself. “When I look at Zayn, I can tell he’s putting on this front, as if he has to act like the stronger of the two. But when I look at Niall, he’s so distant and I honestly feel like he’s going to burst at the seams the longer he stays quiet. I need him to speak up, Liam. I need him to take what belongs to him and I will not let him leave this place empty handed.”  
  
Liam bites his lips together and sits on the edge of his desk. He takes a moment to gather his thoughts, then tells Harry, “If the defendant gets everything, then so be it. It’s not ours to say. But the least we could do for Niall is let him leave with his dignity. That I know we can give him.”  
  
Harry gives Liam a worried stare, but nods his head in agreement after. “Let’s hope it works out.”  
  
—  
  
The session promptly begins after lunch, Liam and Harry in their conference room with all the necessary paperwork in front of them. To Harry’s left sits Niall Horan, and Liam’s right is Zayn Malik, each party represented by their own separate lawyers. The tension in the room is seemingly higher than it’s been in previous sessions. Liam can tell by Niall’s tight-lipped expression that he’s nervous, compared to Zayn’s laid back demeanor, spending most of his time chatting with his lawyer.  
  
“Gentlemen,” Harry starts, flipping over his legal pad full of notes, “today is our last mediation session and so far, we’ve managed to distribute ninety percent of all assets and properties to their respective parties. To wrap up the last of our agenda, let’s start with the matter of a ten-foot tall Lego statue of a Minion.”  
  
“He can keep it,” Niall says immediately.  
  
“Wait, you don’t like it?” Zayn asks, surprised. “I thought you loved it, you said so when we built it together.”  
  
“You must be out of your mind if you think I’d ever like that piece of garbage,” Niall shakes his head, pursing his lips in annoyance. “I helped you build that thing because _you asked me to._ I did a lot of that when we were married, Zayn. Never seemed to work the other way around when I needed something from you."  
  
Zayn shifts in his seat, then gives Harry a reluctant nod. “I guess I can take it.”  
  
Liam and Harry scribble a few notes in their legal pads, proceeding with various items that Niall continually refuses to take, despite Zayn’s insistence. Liam finally notices what Harry had relayed to him earlier in the day, realizing Niall will have nothing for himself by the end of the session. The last of the couple's’ properties include a downtown loft and a house in the suburbs, which leads Liam to believe that is all Niall’s been aiming for since the first session. When Harry presents the loft, Zayn attempts to convince Niall to have it, who remains adamant that he wants nothing to do with it.  
  
“But it’s where we lived!” Zayn protests. “Don’t you want someplace close to where you film—”  
  
“What’s the point?” Niall interrupts aggressively, catching Zayn off guard. “You really think I want to stay in that shithole you called a ‘sacred temple’, only to fuck your girlfriend _on the bed we slept in_ , no less? No thanks, you can fucking keep it. And don’t even think about taking the house you were barely in, you jerk!”  
  
“That house belongs to me just as much!” Zayn bites back. “And for your information, I never fucked Raphaela in our bed, she only gave me h—”  
  
“Oh, shut the fuck up! You fucked her plenty of times when I wasn’t around, so what difference does it make!” Niall shouts, pounding a fist onto the table.  
  
Liam tries to calm Niall down, but he holds a finger to Liam’s face, firmly telling him, “My husband has been talking the entire time and it’s my turn now, Mr. Payne. I’ve gone too long without saying a single word and I will not leave until he hears everything. Do you understand?”  
  
Liam nods his head in compliance, exchanging a nervous glance with Harry. “Let him do this,” Harry whispers under his breath.  
  
“I never meant to for it to be this way, Niall,” Zayn says quietly. “You have to understand that I didn’t know what I was doing until it was too late.”  
  
“And it took you all of two fucking years to figure that out! Nice timing there, Zayn, you always were the most punctual,” Niall sarcastically notes. “Tell me, has Raphaela won any of her dance competitions? As far as I’m concerned, she’s always at the bottom of the barrel, barely scraping by like the hack that she is!”  
  
“She is an amazing dancer, how dare you! And don’t talk about her like she’s a has-been!”  
  
“She’s not a has-been ‘cause she’s never accomplished anything!”  
  
“You fucking—” Zayn clenches his fists, grumbling under his breath. “I hate when you’re like this!”  
  
“Oh, really? Maybe if you hadn’t been fucking her behind my back for two years I wouldn’t be this petty!”  
  
“Stop! That’s enough!” Liam holds his hands out, pleading with the warring couple to keep their cool. “If you gentlemen can’t control your tempers, then I’m sorry to inform you that the longer this goes on, it’s more money out of your pockets,” he sternly tells them. “And most of all, you’ll be wasting everyone’s time. So unless you intend to drag this out for another day, month, or even into the next year – I'm gonna need both of you to put your guns down and let Harry and I finish this session.”  
  
“I’d rather this asshole had taken his gun and shot me the first chance he got,” Niall huffs angrily to Zayn’s shock. “Maybe you should’ve been the actor of this marriage, because you did one hell of a job pretending you loved me!”  
  
“That’s a lie! You’re just putting words into everybody’s heads! I never faked a single thing with you!”

"Because you're as fake as Raphaela's tits, you sack of—"  
  
“Mr. Horan! Mr. Malik!" Harry shouts, suddenly towering over the entire conference table. "Calm. down. You’re both at an eleven right now and I need you to take it down eight notches if you intend to finish this on time."  
  
The argument triggers Niall's asthma, alerting Zayn of his condition. He tries to reach for Niall, but he smacks Zayn’s hand away and reaches into his jacket pocket, pulling out an inhaler to relieve his chest. After a minute, Niall places the device into his mouth again, pumping out more medication than the recommended dosage. Liam, Harry, and Niall’s lawyer attempt to pry the inhaler away from Niall, causing him to shout in frustration when the medical device is flung across the room.  
  
“Niall, stop! Stop it, you’re going to kill yourself!” Zayn shouts.  
  
“What do you care!? You stopped giving a shit about me two years ago, why start now!”  
  
“Because it matters to me if you die!”  
  
Niall stares his husband down, screaming out, “I died the day you left me!”  
  
The room goes into a standstill, every person too shocked to speak up against an emotionally volatile Niall. Tears suddenly stream down Niall’s cheeks, and in all of Liam’s years in the business, he’s never seen anyone as truly heartbroken as Niall Horan. He’s seen every type of couple: vindictive, resentful, and some downright despicable. But never has someone stripped to their very core, revealing to everyone only but a fraction of who Niall used to be.  
  
“Do you know what it’s like to be called weak? To be called less than a man by your own family members?” Niall asks a tearful Zayn. “I could have drank myself into a coma hearing people tell me, ‘ _It’s all your fault, you didn’t love your husband enough, that’s why he left you.'_ And you know what? I almost believed them. I heard it so fucking much that I really did start to blame myself for everything that went wrong. So I drank. I drank until I blacked out and I'd drink even more when I realized I hadn't died yet. I could have done it, Zayn. I'd rather have died than to deal with any of this.”  
  
“Don’t – please don't do this to yourself,” Zayn replies, voice trembling. “None of this was your fault, it was all of mine and you know I'd take the blame if anything happened!”  
  
“Well, it's too late for that!” Niall cries. “Night after night, I’d stay up, just hoping you’d walk through our front door as if nothing ever happened, but all I did was wait for a ghost. God, the last twelve years with you is all I’ve known, Zayn! I watched you go from singing at wedding parties to performing in the biggest arenas in the world, and I couldn’t have been prouder to call you my husband.  
  
“I did everything I possibly could to make our marriage work, so where did I go wrong? What did I do to make you fall out of love with me? Was it my schedule? The people I worked with? When did it become so bad that you couldn’t stand the sight of me, and your only option was to run to someone else? If you were unhappy, we could have talked it through, but instead you left and put me through six months of the most agonizing pain I’ve ever known.  
  
“And you know what’s the worst part about all of this? It was knowing that nothing I did was going to bring you back to me. I loved you with everything I had, I gave you my entire life. But now it’s gone and I have nothing to show for it. I don’t know what I did to make you give up on me, but I—even through all of this,” Niall takes a deep and shaky breath, quickly wiping his tears, “I still love you so much, Zayn. And I wish I didn’t.”  
  
Liam’s heart wrenches inside of him and Harry folds his hands together, looking between the couple with glassy eyes. Niall continues taking deep breaths and Zayn tips his head up, his lip trembling as he tries not to cry. Zayn’s lawyer places a gentle hand on his client’s shoulder, and Liam gives him a nod, encouraging Zayn to speak up.  
  
“I never gave up on you, Niall, _never_. I gave up on myself,” Zayn finally admits. “I realize the sacrifices you made to be with me, and I took so much for granted, even in the beginning. And never in a million years could I have imagined a life like the one we’ve had together. We went from barely surviving to having everything in such a short amount of time, and I'm more than grateful for all you've done, even with all the bullshit you had to endure from me.  
  
“But I guess I lost sight of myself along the way – of everything we built together – and I fucked up. I fucked up to the point of no return and that’s how we wound up here, because I can’t keep hurting you the way I have. The more lies I fed you, the more I felt myself falling apart, and I couldn't do it anymore as much I still love you. You deserve better than that, you always have. I’ve held you back and I’ve let you down so many times, Niall. But I know that once you walk out of this office, you can hold your head high and know you’re going to be okay without me.”  
  
Zayn carefully holds out his hand to Niall, who willingly takes it with his eyes closed. The two share a tender moment of silence, nothing but the sound of their breaths finally easing the tension in the room.  
  
“That house in the suburbs,” Zayn directs the comment to Harry and Liam, but keeps his eyes on his husband, “please leave it to Niall. The lease is under his name, there’s no point in me fighting for it.”  
  
“We could still share it. What’s half of mine is still half of yours too,” Niall reasons.  
  
“No, I want you to keep it,” Zayn rubs his thumb over the back of Niall’s hand, quietly sniffling. “It’s funny, though. We’ve lived in so many places, but there was only one place I called home – and it was in that shitty apartment we used to live in when we first got married. Even though we could barely sleep some nights because it was too hot or too cold, and the fridge barely worked... there was still no better place I could have been in the world than with you, Niall.”  
  
“We were just kids then,” Niall comments after a short pause. “Didn’t seem like that long ago when we first moved in, did it?”  
  
Zayn shakes his head, smiling. “I have no bad memories of us there.”  
  
“If you could... would you do this all over again?”  
  
“If it meant hurting you again, I wouldn’t. But knowing I’d have the chance to be with you, then I’d do it a thousand times over in a heartbeat.”  
  
Once Liam and Harry feel the waters are calm enough between the couple, the respective parties sign and date the last of the documents, bringing their last session to a close. Calum escorts the clients through a back entrance, keeping them safely concealed from the media frenzy that had formed outside of their offices.  
  
“Oh, man, that was an ordeal!” Liam stretches in his chair, yawning loudly. “Another job well done, Harry.”  
  
“D’you think they can stay friends?” Harry asks, completely missing Liam’s praise. “Maybe that’s naive of me to say. I mean, how many couples have we dealt with who’d put a hit on each other as soon as they walked out the door?” he says with a laugh. “But Niall and Zayn… there’s too much love between them to just throw it all away.”  
  
Liam saunters to the window overlooking the city, taking a deep and contemplative breath. Harry sidles beside his partner, the two friends draping their arms over each other’s shoulders. The beaming sunlight through the window will fade into the magic hour, the hordes of paparazzi and news vans will trail off one by one, and it’ll be another three hours until they can all go home.  
  
“It’ll be fine,” Liam assures Harry, smiling. “They’ll be okay.”  
  
+  
  
**_Niall Horan and Zayn Malik Divorce Finalized!_**  
_by Entertainment Staff_  
  
_The marriage of beloved power couple, Niall Horan and Zayn Malik, is officially over._  
  
_A Bonizec judge finalized the divorce on Monday. Their divorce judgement was released on Friday, revealing Horan refused spousal support, and asked only for the sole possession of his personal items and a $1.5 million home located in the affluent Miraton Valley._  
  
_In a surprising show of affection, the couple were seen sharing a happy embrace outside of the Bonizec County Courthouse. When asked to comment on their status, Horan stated, “We’ve been together for so long, it’s hard not to still be in each other’s lives. It’s been an interesting journey for the both of us, to say the least, and I wish nothing but the best for Zayn. He’s an amazing person and I’ll always love him.”_  
  
_Malik followed up with his own statement: “Niall was my first love and he always will be – there was no one I loved more when we were together. We may not be married anymore, but I honestly can’t imagine a day without him making me smile. And with us as friends, I’ll never miss a laugh.”_  
  
_Here’s hoping for a future reconciliation!_


End file.
